Participants taste Washington fries at restaurant show

Washington Ag Today September 3, 2010 The Washington State Potato Commission was at the recent Western Restaurant Association Show in Los Angeles. Commission Director of Trade Matt Harris says the purpose of attending is to promote Washington state potatoes.

Harris: “What we will accomplish at the show is we will bring in our high quality French fries and we will give those cooked samples out to participants of the show. We will also have on display some of our beautiful russet, red and white potatoes that are available in the market today. And we really do communicate with the food service industry when we attend this specific program.”

Harris says the commission interacted with about two-thousand of the show’s attendees.

Harris: “Well they really want to know about the quality of our product and want to know exactly what is available in the marketplace. They like to see the freshness of our French fries and the crisp texture that we can provide as growers. And I think that really benefits, adds some face-time to where they are buying their produce from.”

Harris says monitoring traffic flow on the commission website is one way to gauge the impact of attending the show.

Harris: “A lot of our materials are geared to go back to the website so when someone comes up and asks well where can I buy a fresh potato we will hand them a shippers directory and hopefully they will make that connection.”

That’s Washington Ag Today. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today. Good health tomorrow. I’m Bob Hoff on Northwest Aginfo Net.